Of Night and Darkness
by ER3V05
Summary: When forces older than creation begin to move...
1. Chapter 1

**'Born of night and darkness they come;**

 **By their might banish the pit yawning wide;**

 **By their hand does Olympus bleed and divide;**

 **And the sixth age shall begin.'**

Dionysus and Chiron stared at Rachael with blank faces. Then they dashed to her as she crumbled.

"That was a prophecy, a Great Prophecy. But why were her eyes glowing black?" Chiron wondered.

Chiron began to recite the prophecy,

"Born of night and darkness they come;

By their might banish the pit yawning wide;"

"Tartarus!?" wondered Dionysus and then recited the rest,

"By their hand does Olympus bleed and divide;

And the sixth age shall begin."

There was a momentary silence into which Dionysus said in a low voice with a hint of fear,

"Sounds like its set in stone."

Chiron was thinking of the last line. 'And the sixth age shall begin.' Every age ended with utmost destruction. He looked up in fear at the ceiling. But what he was truly gazing at in his mind was Olympus.

"Thanks." said Jade as those who hadn't yet wished her and Lucian 'a happy birthday' were now wishing them as they started to sit around the campfire for the sing-along.

"Happy birthday . . ." a voice said and then added, "mutts!"

She turned around to see that it was Clarisse. Jade took a step towards her but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder; Lucian's.

"If only you are as good with swords as you are with you words." he said with a small smile.

Clarisse growled but did nothing. Her eyes fell on his hand; he was fiddling with the bracelet which she knew transformed into a long sword. She could never defeat Lucian. Their first match, he toyed with her so much that Chiron himself had to step in. He always had a comeback for her every taunt. He slipped through every ambush she had placed. He dragged his twin sister away while looking at Clarisse with a small sneer. Clarisse's eyes fell on the Hunters of Artemis; they were glaring at Lucian as well. Few months ago, as he was hunting a monster, he had stumbled upon them bathing. Enraged, Artemis cursed him only to find that her curse had no effect on him. Apparently what irritated the goddess most was that he was not bothered with any of them, they might as well have been the rocks and trees behind them, and he went after the monster. Then her eyes fell on the Aphrodite's cabin; they were also glaring at the twins. Aphrodite was jealous that Jade had caught Ares' attention and also that Jade could look upon her even in her divine form. Clarisse hated Jade because her father started to have a thing for her, ever since Jade had beaten seven Colchis bulls into a pulp on her own.

Many cabins went along quite well with them, few didn't; namely of Ares, Artemis and Aphrodite. For some reason the twins refuse to near Nemesis' cabin and look at it with irritation. Everyone there knew that there was something odd about them; for one, they didn't have ADHD and dyslexia like the others. There was a time when everyone thought that they were legacies but their demigod abilities stood out more, confusing all.

They were all by the campfire singing with the Apollo's cabin leading them when it happened. There was flickering in the surroundings as if the lights in a darkroom had loose connections. Everyone pulled out there weapons while looking around. This went on for a couple of seconds and after that there were sounds of gasps. Slowly everyone's attention was turning to the birthday twins. Black mist was converging on their heads. Percy immediately knew that it was a claiming. But he had never seen such sort of claiming. Slowly the mist solidified to form a foot wide disc seemingly made of obsidian without any shine on each of their heads. Slowly white glowing markings began to form on the discs. Both discs were identical with two signs; one on each face. One was a crescent moon with three stars to complete the circle; second was two crescent moons one inside the other making a ring of sorts.

Percy recognised one of them, hearing Annabeth murmur 'impossible', so did she.

"What kind of gods are those?" Clarisse sneered.

Percy turned to her and saw Aphrodite's and Ares' cabin laughing at them. But Annabeth's voice made him turn to the other side.

"Mr.D, Chiron, how is this possible?"

Percy saw Chiron and Mr.D has the same look as Annabeth only more intense. As Percy neared them, he heard Chiron say in a low voice,

"Born of night and darkness they come."

He turned to Mr.D who looked back with the same horror. As if those words meant something, there was a massive thundering and lightning in the sky right above them unlike any they have ever seen.

"The brat is trying to smite you both." a voice said.

They turned to see man dressed in black aristocratic cum warrior attire standing behind the twins looking up. He was in his late twenties, black hair, light beard but his eyes were black with white embers as his pupils.

"Dad!?" went Jade shocked.

"Why . . . did we forget about you and mom?" Lucian asked.

"I sealed your memories before I sent you here." he said.

He started walking towards the dining pavilion. On seeing him near them, Mr.D and Chiron got down on a knee and bowed low while saying,

"Lord Erebos."

This sent a wave of gasps and panic all over.

"Where's mom?" Jade asked.

Erebos merely waved his arms around with a smile.

"She has been itching to claim you both for the last two years."

"What!?" went the two confused.

Then Erebos' eyes fell on Annabeth and Percy instinctively stood before her shielding her while taking out his sword and pointing at him. Percy was just standing there but his mind was blank as he was looking at the face of the primordial of darkness. Behind him, Lucian was irritated while Jade angry at Percy for daring to point a weapon at their father.

"Cute." he said not at all sounding amused, he then went on, "Annabeth Chase and Peruses Jackson."

He turned back to his children and continued,

"It's because of the prank these two pulled on your mother that you both are here."

Now there were flashes all over. Within seconds there were several gods standing there. Some looked very serious, some nervous and some curious; only Zeus was angry. Erebos didn't even look at them and kept on walking towards the dining pavilion.

"What did you mean, dad?" Jade asked.

"After the prank they pulled, she was saddened a bit that your siblings stopped caring about her." saying so he half turned back and scowled at the gods standing there.

Percy saw that some became immediately interested in other stuff, some jumped behind other gods while few were mouthing trying to say something. Erebos turned forward and walked on.

"Still, can't believe that she's so gullible." seemingly murmured to himself. "Anyway, she wanted demigods, children who would love her. So we both took on mortal forms and had you two."

They had reached the dining pavilion. As they looked on a new ornate table began to form, black like the night itself with a pulse of energy going through it every now and then. Regal chairs formed of the same material and the three sat down.

"Something doesn't add up." said Lucian.

Erebos nodded his head. He replied,

"I carved out a bit of the mortal realm just for the four of us. We raised you there until you were thirteen. Nyx was mollycoddling you two way too much. I told her that you need to make friends, have fun, live. Finally I managed to convince her to send you here."

Lucian opened his mouth but Erebos spoke,

"Getting to it. You see, in that realm, one year equalled to a day here."

"Meaning, we aged thirteen years in thirteen days." said Jade looking at her hand.

Erebos nodded and then he sighed. Seeing this Jade said,

"There is another reason you came here."

Erebos nodded again. He opened his palm and a ball of black light formed. Out of it a female voice came,

'Born of night and darkness they come;

By their might banish the pit yawning wide;

By their hand does Olympus bleed and divide;

And the sixth age shall begin.'

"That's us!" said Lucian shocked.

"I'm afraid so." Erebos said. "I came to know of this prophecy right after your birth. It was one of the reasons why Nyx didn't want to let go of you."

He remained silent for a moment and then said in a low voice that it felt like he was talking to himself,

"I just wanted you to have a normal life. It seems your sisters thought otherwise."

He then looked up and explained,

"Gaea and Ouranos were the fortunate side of the family. On the opposite side are me and Tartarus. Somewhere along the middle are your mother and Akhlys, Nyx nearer to us than them. Tartarus is making a move, now that Gaea and Ouranos are temporarily out of commission."

"Can't you . . ." started Jade.

"Stop him? I have been, since the beginning. Why do you think I'm down in Hades, right above him?" Erebos said. "The thing is I can stop his source from rising up but the forms he can take . . ."

He shook his head.

"I could destroy him but there are problems with that. The most important one, the fight among those born of Chaos could wipe out all of creation. Our powers are not sunshine and rainbows like Gaea and Ouranos. It is also a reason why I stay in Hades, away from everything so as to avoid annihilating anything by mistake. Your mother is the only who can withstand my devouring nature. After all, the night is another form of darkness, is it not?" he said with a smile.

He stood up and said,

"Don't think too much of the prophecy. When it will come to pass, it will come to pass. Until then relax, enjoy, have fun. Hope you like your new cabin."

"What cabin?" asked Lucian.

Erebos pointed to the large black cabin outside the ring of the cabins. It wasn't there five minutes ago. It was the largest of them all with galaxies, stars, comets seemingly moving inside it.

"Almost forgot. You might have noticed that you are not like the other demigods."

They both nodded.

"You are superior to them, even the Olympians. But the fact remains that we were mortals when you were born. So you are bound by its limitations. You have a fatal flaw each. Lucian, you like your mother have a lack of empathy, causing others to perceive you as cold and unfriendly. Be more understanding; it will work wonders. Jade, you like me fear yourself, of what you are capable of, thus shutting others out to protect them from yourself but only to be looked on as antisocial. Open yourself to others, let them know the good side of you."

Then he looked up and frowned. The twins turned to see what it was. But there was nothing. Erebos spoke in a grim voice,

"Hmmm, my presence is beginning to affect the space around here. Until we meet again. Be good you two."

He gave a small fond smile and disappeared in a flash of black light. It was then they saw that parts of the space around them were reappearing out of the black spaces. Then suddenly Zeus raised his lightning bolt aiming at the twins.

"Ahem." said a voice.

They turned to see all of Nyx' and Erebos' children glaring at them. Eris spoke,

"Our father is considerate. We are not."

Zeus roared,

"You dare threaten me! I am Zeus! Your lord and ruler!"

Declaring so, he raised his lightning bolt. But Hera came up to her husband and said something in his ear. He looked up. Others followed suit. They saw that the sky had become a black void. It felt like a misstep could end with them falling into it. It wasn't that; it felt like the black void was descending. Zeus' bolt started losing its lightning. Zeus looked at it and back up. With a growl, he disappeared in a flash. Others followed; some glared, some looked worried, some afraid, some amused and some impassive. The sky returned to normal within moments.

The twins' siblings came up to them and hugged them and all. Slowly they left as well leaving a ringing silence. The newly claimed siblings were looking around at the fear, uneasy and anger in the faces of their fellow campers.

"Shall we call it a day?" Jade asked.

"Yeah." said Lucian.

The campers literally jumped out of their way as the siblings started towards their new cabin. The cabin was larger than the rest of them but when they went in, it was a just short of a palace. It took them over an hour to find their rooms. And when they did, they hit the sack as if knocked out cold.

"Let the games begin." the voice came from the depths of the pit.

The voice was full of such pure malevolence that it made the monsters around the pit look tame.


	2. Chapter 2

The weather outside reflected upon the situation inside the hall. The actual Olympians were shouting at each other while minor gods were discussing among themselves in whispers.

"He is your denizen! Keep him in check!" Zeus shouted at Hades.

Hades had stiffened up as he looked at Zeus and few others that were glaring at him.

"Are you mad?" Hades slowly asked. "He is Erebos, you fool. More than half of my domain is held together by his will." he shouted.

"Why don't you do it? You are the king after all." said Hera sarcastically.

"Think before you speak! You won't last a minute against him." Demeter shouted at Zeus while siding with Hades.

Another shouting match was between Poseidon and Dionysus while Hermes tried to mediate between them.

"How could you have not known who they were? Are you so blind, you fat pig!?" Poseidon shouted.

"What did you call me!?" Dionysus stood up with his thyrsus.

"There was no way he could have known before their claiming." Hermes explained while eying the trident in Poseidon's hand and the thyrsus in Dionysus' with unease.

Another section of the shouting was between Apollo and Ares.

"Every time! Every damned time! It starts with you and your bloody prophecies!" Ares shouted.

"It doesn't work that way, you meat brain!" Apollo shouted back.

"Oh, please." Aphrodite said while stroking her hair.

"One more word and I will . . .!" Artemis began.

"As always, no sense of propriety." said Hephaestus with a sneer at Aphrodite who growled at him.

"What's done is done! There is no point fighting over it!" Athena shouted holding back Artemis.

However, one Olympian was silent as she observed all of this, Hestia. The shouting seemed distant for some reason. She felt separated, she was confused but something else caught her attention. She turned back to the hearth and stared into the fire. As she looked on the red flame paled and turned blue and finally black. It was then she noticed the silence that had fallen around her. She slowly turned around and froze in horror. The hall was empty and in ruins, a large crack was in the middle of the floor that cleaved the hall in two, the thrones broken, ichors splattered all over and part of the roof ripped off. She blinked and everything was back as it was, almost like what she saw was a trick played by her mind. But fear had already taken root inside her.

After several minutes, everybody took to their thrones.

"What do we do now?" asked Apollo and got glares from many of them.

"We destroy them both!" said Zeus firmly.

The shouting started again.

While the fate of the siblings was being decided by the Olympian council, the fate of the Olympian council was being decided elsewhere.

Floating above the void, gently grazing it was the wide palace, so black that it couldn't be seen. The only way to get to it was to know where it was. In the centre of the palace was the hall. Unlike the hall of the gods, it was a circle, meaning that they were all equals. But that was only in appearance because there were forces in here that were more powerful and dangerous than the others. There were thirteen identical thrones with thirteen entrances, one between two thrones. However, two thrones were cracked.

One by one, eleven figures took to the thrones. Few were calm, few uneasy, few annoyed but one was sneering, Tartarus. There was a ringing silence, into which Elpis said,

"The Olympians have voted to destroy those two."

Chronos caught his head while Ananke sniggered, few others were stumped. Pontus groaned,

"Clueless, as always."

He then looked up and said,

"Now what?"

Hemera spoke,

"What happened to Gaea doesn't involve the rest of us. As such I suggest that 'we' do not involve with her family. Let them deal with it themselves."

Then Aither said,

"However, that doesn't mean we will not retaliate. Stay away from those two and we all will stay away from . . . 'them'."

This was an obviously veiled threat towards Tartarus as all of Nyx's family was looking at him.

"I am with Nyx and Erebos." Pontus exclaimed.

All of them knew Pontus had feelings for Gaea. He was disappointed when she choose Ouranos but was crushed when she later choose Tartarus. He now had profound hatred towards the 'pit'.

"So am I." said Akhlys.

The Ourae, Chronos, Ananke and Elpis proclaimed neutrality. Tartarus leered and said,

"I understand. I will stay away from them, provided they stay away from me."

"Agreed." Erebos said.

Tartarus left first; then the Ourae, Chronos, Pontus and Akhlys. Erebos turned to his son, Aither and said,

"Tell those two about this."

Aither nodded and disappeared with Hemera. Elpis said,

"I will tell Hestia about this, you know."

Erebos nodded. She disappeared as well. Now only Erebos, Nyx and Ananke were left. The latter was observing the wife and husband. There was a sense of estrange between them. Nyx frowned as she looked at Erebos from the corner and disappeared. It was then Ananke spoke,

"I don't like it when anyone tries to undermine my authority."

Erebos remained silent.

"Were you so worried about your vagabond girlfriend?"

The sarcasm and mockery was obvious. His eyes snapped towards her. Ananke's sneer dropped at little. She was no match to him in sheer power but being the sole dictator of all fate made her dangerous. Fortunately, his 'vagabond girlfriend' was outside her sphere of influence but the same could not be said about her children, the ones in the camp and the ones living with the 'folk of the mounds'. However, for the moment, they were in no 'immediate' danger.

Erebos frowned but Ananke went on,

"I'm not blind like the Olympians. But the fact that you act as if only you know best is a tad bit insulting."

There was definite anger as she said that.

"Bear in mind, Erebos, I am not Nyx to be tolerant of your ways." and she disappeared.

There was silence. Erebos opened his right hand palm and in the centre of his palm a ball of twirling darkness with red light shooting out from between formed. A receding echo of a beautiful female voice came from it,

 **'** **Born of dark fury they co. . .'**

He clamped his hand shut. He caught his head with his left hand and his fingers ran through his hair as several thoughts clouded his mind. His eyes fell on one of those two thrones that were cracked. An animalistic growl escaped from his mouth. He had stalled it for three hundred years and now things were moving at an unimaginable rate. It came down to one thing, what his next move should be.

His talk with Reyna took longer than expected. He went down to meet with Hazel.

"Haaazzzzeee. . . . . . .!" he started with a large smile but froze the next moment.

Hazel was talking to Nico and it seemed to be very serious. Hazel was outright terrified of what Nico told her.

"Is everything alright?" Frank asked as he neared them.

"We should tell Reyna." Hazel said.

Nico nodded and so they did.

Half an hour later, Reyna was frowning deeply.

"Children of Nox and Scotus?" she murmured to herself.

She couldn't even fathom how powerful they could be.

"Achooooo!" the twins sneezed in unison and the light flickered around the dining pavilion.

All heads turned towards them with fear in their eyes.

"Grrrreat!" Jade said in a low voice.

"They fear you." said Chiron as he neared them. "Calling you powerful is an understatement. Give them time."

But they could see that Chiron himself was scared. Just then, there was a gust of wind and flashes of pure white light.

"I wish to speak with my siblings." a voice behind Chiron.

Chiron turned around and neared jumped back at the twins. It front of them was the most handsome man no mortal or god had ever laid their eyes on. Face like sculpted out of pearl with liquid gold for flowing hair.

"Lord Aither." Chiron said and bowed low.

Aither nodded and took the third chair by the dark table.

"The Olympians have decided to destroy you two." he said.

The jaws of the twins dropped in unison.

"Normally, it is bad. But in your case, it amounts to nothing." he said.

"Easy for you to say." said Jade acidly while eying those on the other tables.

Aither gave a small smile and said,

"Olympus exists because 'we' allow It." then looked up as clouds began to gather.

Aither sneered. He turned back to them and continued with a grim tone,

"What matters is the decision of the Primordials."

Lucian rested back and said,

"Okay?!"

"The Ourae, Chronos, Ananke and Elpis have chosen to remain neutral. Tartarus gave his word to keep his distance from you two provided you two kept your distance from him. Father accepted it."

Jade opened her mouth to say something.

"Of course, we don't trust him." Aither added and Jade became silent. "The rest of us are with you."

Aither then bent forward onto the table and said while stressing every word,

"Stay. Away. From Tartarus. Do 'not' give the Pit an excuse. He is dangerously manipulative. The only reason he is thus far unsuccessful is because of father's ever-vigilant presence above him."

Seeing the seriousness on Aither's face, the twins nodded. Then after a series of ripples of light over him, Aither disappeared. The twins heard sighs from other tables and they both groaned in disgust.

Days passed by. The shock of their origins slowly died down though everyone was still wary of them. They were playing capture the flag and the twins were pitted against each other so that the others didn't have to deal with them. Jade was using a pair of bulky but ornate cestuses while Lucian had his long sword out.

"Is that your best shot . . . Kratos?" Lucian asked with sneer.

"I'm gonna beat you to a pulp." Jade said through gritted teeth and a wide grin.

And they went at each other again. Minutes passed by and neither could land a solid hit on the other when suddenly, they heard clapping. They turned to see a woman sitting on a boulder looking down at them with a small but fond smile. The woman jumped down the boulder and started towards them. The twins split and raised their guard facing this woman. As they observed her, she wasn't very beautiful but she had fierceness to her. She felt out of place to them and yet her presence felt natural to them. As she neared them, something inside them was stirring, they were feeling sort of energised.

"Who are you?" Lucian asked.

She stopped and looked puzzled. Then she asked,

"Azoreth didn't tell you?"

"Who?" Jade asked.

"Er, I suppose you would know him as 'Erebos'." she said.

"Who . . . are . . . you?" Jade asked stressing each word.

"I have many names. Each culture gave me one." she said and then added in a low voice, "Though, often, they confuse me for someone else."

"Anyway, call me Valica, it's the name your father knows me with."

"Okay. But who are you?" Lucian asked again.

"I'm your mother."

There was a ringing silence.

"Come again." Jade asked.

"I am your mother." Valica repeated.

"I'm getting a 'Vader and Luke' vibe here." Lucian said in a low voice.

"No, your'e not." said Jade. "Our mother's Nyx."

"Did your father tell you that?" Valica asked.

"No, we know so." said Lucian.

"Huh! He should be the god of deception, not darkness." Valica spoke to herself.

Suddenly, they heard the horn signalling the end of the game and cheer coming their way. They turned back to the woman only to find her gone.

"Did . . . that . . . just happen?" Jade asked.

Lucian was frowning as he looked at her and back where the woman had disappeared.

Nyx was sitting on the throne with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes to see Hemera come inside the room. Nyx stood up and walked towards her when Hemera spoke,

"The vagrant met with the children."

Nyx stopped. Hemera sensed a slight disturbance inside her mother; even the smallest change inside something so powerful was obvious. Nyx crossed her and left the room. If only after her mother had left did the room lit up. Hemera sighed as she sat on the throne. She began to remember how such a loving couple her parents were. Anger slowly crept in as she remembered the vagrant woman, the one who stole her father from her mother.


End file.
